I read somewhere that they are doing a massive upgrading of their fleet interiors-- leather seats and AVOD. It was supposed to be done fleet-wite over the "winter season."
Has anyone flown with them recently and experienced it? I flew with them in December and it was the same old, same old on both legs.
Sorry this has taken a while - I flew KEF-GLA in January in Saga class and the plane (a 752) had a very tired interior. There were spaces in the headrests where TVs would have been ( I think "would have been" rather than "going to be" because the seats themselves were old - still had ashtrays) and the drop down screen in front of me did just that and swung there - not working - from take off to landing.
Service etc was fine though and if you are in the front then the Saga lounge in KEF is nice, too - a respite from the airport which seems to be at its busiest at about 6.30 am or some such unearthly hour.
I read too that brand new seats and avod are suppose to be completed by spring this year. My thoughts are that they'll probably refit their USA flights before they do their intra-europe a/c. New interiors look great..looks similar to Virgin America seats. I was thinking about using them this xmas. If the price is ok and they have the new biz installed in all the a/c then I might use them back to the U.S. Time will tell.
My recent trip to Iceland on Icelandair 2/15/08-2/18/08
I just returned yesterday from a weekend visit to Iceland flying r/t on Icelandair from JFK to KEF. I found the economy service acceptable, with a substantial chicken dinner on the return and a fairly tasty, if somewhat small, lasagna meal on the outbound flight. I was lucky to get seat 17F(exit row) in both directions, especially in light of the fact that both flights were fully loaded. Yesterday, I was awestruck by the sight of Greenland from 34,000 feet. The view of the glaciers and the tops of the snow-covered mountains that disappeared beneath the ice cap were stunning.
You just can't see that from just any trans-Atlantic flight.
As for the entertainment, it was pretty standard fare. The choice of Mr. Magorium's Emporium for the daylight return seemed a little immature, especially as you could count the number of pre-teens in the cabin on one hand.
The flight attendants disappered after meal service on the 4.5 hour outbound night flight but, they were working very hard, during the jet stream extended 6.5 hour return. Iceland was disappointing, primarily because it was rainy and foggy for the entire weekend. I did feel less disappointed after running into a half dozen British women who were sulking, when their dog sled ride on the glacier was cancelled due to the weather. It would have been nice to see Guilfoss Falls but upon arriving on the bus in the afternoon, you coudn't see your hand in front of your face due to the very heavy fog. Oh well, I bought a postcard to remind me of what I missed.
Not exactly state of the art, but nice for the relatively short flights they make.
Why would any airline even spend the money to upgrade to a seat like this when virtually everyone else is upgrading to at least a semi-flat bed seat in C? Since I live near BWI and travel in C to FRA frequently I would love to use Icelandair but not with their current seats or those you had a link to. Crazy!
That doesn't mean that people in C wouldn't like to get a couple of hours of sleep if they provided an angled flat-bed seat on a 5 hour flight. Can the costs to retrofit with the seats they picked actually be that much cheaper than angled flat-bed seats?
Also just realize they no longer offer service from BWI since Jan. 13.
The seats don't look that bad really. GLA-KEF-MSP (saga class) £1211. Thats quite a good fare really. Only prob is that you don't get into MSP until 17.35. If I want to fly to the west coast I don't get in until around midnight. Bummer. As I said before the seats look like the first class Virgin America seats, and I flew with them last Nov from JKF. The seats are not bad, and the recline is quite comfortable for a 2/3 hr nap.
I would say Icelandair has the best connecting system I ever encountered. I fly regularly from FRA to BOS. I prefer the Lufthansa direct flight but once I used Iclandair and once Air France. Icelandair was smooth and nice and I took advantage of their Iceland stopover deal. Air France was the total opposite. Connecting in CDG was inconvenient and on both legs I almost didn't catch my connecting flight.
Programs: AA LifeP/2MM, CO Plt, UA 1K/MM, WN, Hilton D, Hyatt D, SPG Plt
Posts: 5,182
Thank you for this timely thread.
We bought the least expensive tickets today before the promo ended BOS to KEF rt for under $500 all in. I was not able to reserve any seats since our fares were so inexpensive. Is it worth calling the airline asking for a aisle seat? Do they sell upgrades at the gate? Any fare qualify to buy upgrades? Is it worth enrolling in their ff program? I noted somewhere they may be part of points.com for whatever that is worth? Any comments appreciated. Glad to hear it is a short flight. We will be in KEF in early May at the Hilton. Thanks.
My recent trip to Iceland on Icelandair 2/15/08-2/18/08
